How do you do it? For me it's kinda like chick sexing, I'm pretty good at it but I couldn't tell you how to do it. It's like they have a signature that I can't describe but has an unmistakable style, a certain je ne sais quoi. I figured since some of them Amazons running around asserting dominance over the menfolk have been on forums for like 20+ years, they might know an indicator or 2. I'll try to start.

1) smarmy - I hadn't thought of that word for decades before coming here, but that's probably the best word I can think of for many of them. The writing style gives it away.

2) provocative - the whole point of the troll is to provoke without the provokee realizing it, fortunately the majority of them really suck at nuance. (n.b. There are non-trolls among us who get a hardon from sticking the pig just to watch it squeal too, those are called dicks.)

3) pretending to be a non-English speaker - most of them really suck at this too.

I would add gaslighting -- trying to convince people that they are not what they take themselves to be, that they are really horrible or obviously idiotic for thinking what they do. That technique usually provokes honest people into writing out all kinds of explanations which the troll can simply deny or ignore.